The Motor Insurance Database (MID) was established by the UK motor insurance industry in 2001 as a means of holding the details of all insured vehicles in the UK so that enforcement agencies, such as the police, are able to use the information to tackle the problem of uninsured driving in the UK by easily identifying vehicles being driven without proper insurance cover on UK roads.

The MID also assists the UK in complying with the 4th & 5th EU Motor Insurance Directives, which requires that insurance details of all vehicles in each member state can be easily identified by the registration plate by a national information centre.  In the UK, this role is carried out by the MIB via its UK Information Centre.

The MID is updated by the motor insurance industry itself, and managed by the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB), which operates as the data controller.  MIB manages the data being loaded to the MID by the insurance industry, by ensuring it is loaded as quickly as possible and that is as accurate as possible; this process is monitored by the Department for Transport (DfT).